Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Scourge and Crucify Secular Protesters

According to reports on Friday, Muslim Brotherhood supporters scourged and crucified secular protesters in Egypt’s capital city of Cairo. Using the same punishments described in Bible as having been inflicted on Jesus, Brotherhood backed mobs rampaged through the streets, seizing protesters against the Islamist government of Mohammad Morsi, and dragging secular journalists from their offices. Their victims were beaten, scourged with whips, and crucified naked on trees.

“A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protesters belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.”

“Thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters” attacked 6-October’s media facilities, beat Khaled Salah—chief editor of the privately-owned and secular Youm 7 newspaper—prevented Yusif al-Hassani, an On TV broadcaster, from entering the building, and generally terrorized the employees. The supporters of Tawfik Okasha, another vocal critic of President Morsi—the one who widely disseminated the graphic video of a Muslim apostate being slaughtered to cries of “Allahu Akbar”—gathered around the presidential palace, only to be surrounded by Brotherhood supporters, who attacked them with sticks, knives, and Molotov cocktails, crucifying some of them on trees, leading to the deaths of two and the wounding of dozens.”

The recent wave of attacks against opponents of the pro-Sharia government of President Morsi continues unabated, with the closing of several secular websites, including Arab News, Al Khabar News, Dostor Watany, and Egypt Now. Journalists are routinely jostled, intimidated and assaulted by Muslim Brotherhood protesters, who station themselves outside all the pro-Democracy media outlets.

Not even well known international journalists have been spared the wrath of the angry, out of control mobs. On February 10, 2012, CBS 60 Minutes reporter, Lara Logan, was forcibly dragged away from her crew and repeatedly raped by a mob of over 200 Tahrir Square protesters. Logan hinted at government involvement, saying, “When our crew went out to film beauty shots early this morning, with no idea that the situation was now different, they were confronted by soldiers and plain clothes agents, they were armed, [the crew] were intimidated and bullied and in fact marched at gunpoint through the streets all the way back to our hotel…. We were accused of being more than journalists, very frightening suggestions were being made. Suggestions that really could be very dangerous for us.”

According to Middle Eastern scholar and Inquisitr contributor, Raymond Ibrahim, the violence against opponents of Muslim Brotherhood is justified by explicit teaching in the Qur’an. Mr. Ibrahim stated in a recent article, “Moreover, those alleged to have been crucified in Egypt certainly fit the Koran’s description of who deserves to be crucified. According to Allah, “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off…” (Koran 5:33). Making mischief in the land” is precisely what the secular media is being accused of, by constantly exposing the Muslim Brotherhood and prompting the people to protest. Even the Jihad Group to Cleanse the Country, which threatens to “liquidate” many secular media, accuses them of “creating chaos to implement the American and Zionist agenda.”

We have seen the increase in violence against non-Muslims, since the take over of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood. We have seen the constant attacks on the Copts and heard the calls for re-establishment of Jizya (a tax on non-Muslims). We have heard Islamist Members of the newly elected Parliament call for mandatory female circumcision and the imposition of Sharia as the sole Constitution of Egypt; with all the resultant authoritarian laws, including public flogging, amputation of limbs, execution of Gays, crucifixion, oppression of women, demonization of the Jewish people, mandatory Qur’an based education, and taxes on non-Muslims.

Just what the future holds for Egypt remains to be seen. President Morsi has certainly shown his true intentions by firing several of the top Generals in the Egyptian military and replacing them with Generals who support his pro-Sharia agenda. Perhaps we will know more after August 24, 2012, when a massive anti-government, pro-Democracy rally is scheduled to take place. Al-Azhar University, Egypt’s leading Islamic authority, has just issued a fatwa to fuel the rage of the Islamists, authorizing violence against their secular opponents:

“Fighting participants in anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations planned for 24 August is a religious obligation.”

American Enterprise Institute Middle East analyst Michael Rubin explains where Egypt may be heading, saying, “Morsi certainly wants absolute control. The Egyptian army have never been saints, but Morsi will broker no checks to his power as the Muslim Brotherhood writes a constitution and imposes its dream of an Islamic state on Egypt.”

Center for Security Policy Senior Fellow Clare Lopezi is not hopeful for the future of Egypt, especially that of non-Muslim citizens. Lopez was blunt when she said, “”The Copts must get out of Egypt as soon as possible – for the many millions who will not be able to get out, I expect things will continue to deteriorate – just as they did for Germany’s and Europe’s Jews from the 1930s onward. The warnings were there long before the ghettos and round-ups and one-way train trips to the concentration camps began in the 1940s.”

President Morsi obviously feels he can do as he please, now that he has the blessing of the Obama Administration and the State Department. Lopez added, “”This is exactly what many of us expected him to do (consolidate power) and I think the White House knew, too, and not only expected but wanted Morsi and the Brotherhood to take over Egypt. As far as I know, the White House invitation for Morsi in September still stands – nor have I heard the slightest hint of criticism from any top U.S. government leadership figure about Morsi’s coup. He knows he’s on solid ground with this administration.”

Middle Eastern experts like Ibrahim, Lopez and Rubin are quite concerned that Morsi really feels he can act with impunity, and they fear for the future of Egypt. If the Muslim Brotherhood is successful in its desire to make Sharia the law of the land, it is only a matter of time before 10 million Coptic Christians, and the supporters of secular government, are wishing for a return to the “good old days” of Hosni Mubarak and his Generals. It is truly a shame that 90 million Egyptians are being denied the right to live with real freedom in a democratic Republic. The Arab Spring may reap a bitter harvest in a long Arab Winter.